One step forward, two steps back
The Rangers and Police were given a free hand when a crackdown against violent crimes was initiated in Karachi in September 2013. Thousands of suspects were nabbed during the operation. The law enforcement agencies conducted hundreds of raids on the criminals’ dens and terrorists’ hiding places. Nearly two years after it began, the Sindh Rangers said that the first stage of the security operation had been completed and the second stage was being initiated with the main task defined as hunting down “land grabbers, target killers, extortionists, kidnappers and terrorists.” Subsequently thousands of more raids were conducted, caches of arms seized and thousands of suspects arrested. A number of terrorists died in police encounter.
The operation led to a considerable reduction in target killings, extortion and terrorist’s attacks. It seems however that the claim of success in the operation was not proportionate to the actual accomplishment on the ground. During the last few months law and order situation in Karachi has taken a negative turn. Armed motor cyclists have reappeared and are on the rampage once again. Polio workers and policemen guarding them have been killed. Traffic police have been targeted and attacks conducted on the vans carrying Rangers and police. Street crimes have once again assumed alarming proportions. According to the latest CPLC report, as many as 29,536 mobile phones were snatched from January till October this year in the city. There is also an uptick in sectarian attacks.
There are a number of reasons for the resurgence in violent crime in the city. Precious time and resources have been wasted on targeting politicians and conducting futile media trials instead of concentrating on criminals with the result that the terrorists are once again ahead of the security agencies. Weaknesses in the prosecution department were not removed. This has sometimes helped dangerous criminals get bail and start their criminal activities once again. No attempt was made to make Karachi weapons free. The government has to review the situation to save the industrial hub of the country from receding into lawlessness.